The babies are dropping on our farm this week. We started last Friday (March 13th) and haven’t really caught our breath yet. We have 22 babies on the ground which may not seem like a lot, but when you are working a 40/week and both commuting 2 hours/day each (making it a 48-50/hour week); it can get a little crazy.
Yesterday took the cake for craziness. Our registered Texel ewe (June) had a baby girl at 10:00 am, Dad pulled a big baby boy out of a first timer for at 12:00, and when I arrived home at 5:00 pm we had one in labor with twins (the first one with a leg back and I don’t even remember how the second one came). We also had a beautiful ewe who had stopped laboring, so we knew she was going to need some assistance. Her first baby came backwards, the second baby was a tangled up mess with what we later found out was the third baby. This girl didn’t even look like she was carrying twins, but produced three nice-sized little lambs. We finally got all of them, 4 mamas, and 7 babies situated and at 8:00 pm made it inside for dinner. We showered, went out to check on them at 9:00pm and had to change back into our chore close rearrange a baby that was coming with a leg back, come inside, shower again, and finally made it to bed at 10:00 only to get back up at 4:00 and start all over again.
We have really been focusing on our nutrition up to this point and although we have gotten worn down and different times throughout the week. I think it has played a part in keeping us healthy and somewhat able to cope with the disrupted sleep and physical labor we have subjected ourselves to.
I have been trying to implement eggs, kefir, and/or raw milk into our breakfast schedule. With the onset of spring I have been able to include a fresh vegetable (broccoli, cauliflower, or asparagus) with almost every dinner. Now that time is a factor I am resorting to frozen soups and dinners I made up ahead of time, and have substituted Bolthouse and Naked juices in place of kefir smoothies. I realize store-bought smoothies are a far cry from a healthy, homemade smoothie with coconut oil, flax seed oil, vitamin c powder, and homegrown fruit. However, we aren’t perfect and are doing what we can to improvise some quick meals and still stay as health conscious as possible. Our latest love is to make hash browns or NT cottage fries with organic potatoes.
For the hash browns I just run them through the food processor peel and all throw them in my cast iron skillet with some butter and olive oil. Five minutes on each side, a sprinkling of sea salt and you have the most fabulous hash browns ever.
I hope to get some lacto-fermented foods back into our diet. NT salsa and sauerkraut are at the top of my list as soon as the tomatoes hit the garden and I find an organic cabbage at the store.
Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying some spring weather. We are in for thunderstorms all weekend. The rain won’t be all that fun for lambing, but will help my new planted trees, bushes, and vines.
Just planted:
2 pecan trees
8 blueberries
3 raspberries
3 cherry bushes
2 apricot bushes
2 cranberries
And 2 coffee plants (for inside the house) for fun
That’s all for now. Hope everyone has a great day!
A Simple Prairie Life 